Australia’s Tony Abbott Vows to Fight On

CANBERRA, Australia—Australia’s prime minister, battling to hold on to his leadership after a big upset in state elections at the weekend, scrapped a signature policy favoring new mothers and pledged to stay on and reverse opinion polls forecasting a wipeout for his government in next year’s elections.

Tony Abbott said he planned to continue as prime minister, despite increasing unease among his colleagues after allies of his conservative coalition in Queensland, who had been in power for three years, lost heavily to the...